Wednesday, March 31, 2010

spring - it's pretty, fresh, young, blooming, energetic, sweet and full of promise. it's rain and sun on a blue, blue sky, it's cold breezes and warm spots in the sun. it's short sleeves and woolen shawls, rubber boots and bare feet in mud puddles, it's empty branches with dots of illuminating greens and pretty pink, purple, white pastels. full of cliches and so darn irresistible.

and right here and now, spring is a serious cleaning just finished, a house sparkling clean and filled with good times, a friend visiting, a husband who passed his deadlines, it's pesach vacation, sunny days, bbqs and children running bare feet in the garden. indeed spring has sprung.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

:: my granny square blanket project - moving steadily (though not so fast) ahead, with new colors being added now and then

:: that this little plant i have in my living room (which i always forget the name of), a plant that i never before managed to keep alive, is growing so fast and furious - and now it is even blooming, something i never saw before (it's almost ridiculous so proud that makes me feel :)

:: that our nana (mint) is growing crazy this spring. last year they didn't do so well, so we moved the sad little stubs that were left after a burning hot summer to a new spot. and they are just all over the place now.

:: looking happily forward to this wednesday where my friend and her youngest son will come visit us. yay! i need to tell her to bring rum for those mojitos.

Friday, March 26, 2010

it's not pretty, but i still love that city. the energy, the constant development and change in appearance, the contrasts and the little surprises.

i am still organizing around here and kids are home for pesach - a combination that doesn't leave much time for blogging, so this is just a quick hello and catching up will have to wait a little while longer.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

:: i am really excited about some old bed sheets i got from D's mom. still didn't decide what to make.

:: i'm in the middle of eat, pray, love, but i am not feeling so inspired right now. i think it might be because i'm jealous of the enormous amount of time this woman has to just explore herself, search for peace of mind. (maybe i need to look into that 10th commandment...)

:: i went to photograph poppies in our front yard the other day and found a big thyme growing in the middle of everything. what a sweet surprise.

:: i have been slowing down on the blogging, and especially on visiting/commenting on other blogs. i will catch up at some point, but it's been a busy time and a new season. (so i began a huge spring cleaning session to get rid of dirt, dust and spiderwebs, but most importantly, all the clutter and the stuff we don't use anymore: goodwill here i come...)

:: i have lived here in this house just over a year, and the sun setting behind our house never seizes to amaze me. i wonder if it ever will...

:: i am so excited about a print i got from the talented aris of the inspiring blog peekadoo. it's just waiting for my spring cleaning to be done with - and then it will get a good spot to hang.

:: i think pitanga might be the most beautiful little fruit i ever saw. that color, that shape. and i only saw it for the first time when i moved to this house. i am not too crazy about the taste, though, but might give it a go with some jam.

------------------------------

i am not going to award anyone, since i have a feeling that everyone already got tagged on this. but if you didn't or if you just didn't get around to it yet, then please play along. for those of you that are just dying to know more about me (common, you know you want to :), there's more like this right here and here.

i am also not going to participate in today's corner view (see thing #4 up there), but i might catch up on the "typical architecture" later.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

remember this november sunset photo ? this is the second time around i see these apples, but this time i had seen - and smelled - the blossoms before. everything is green and new and fresh, and i forgot that i remember it so well from last year. for some reason there are now again a few blossoms on the trees. not sure if that's normal, but maybe i will know one day.

this is the essence of what i love about living here in the countryside, to be so close to nature, to experience the cycle. this year, right here, it's been all about seeing everything return, reappear. i wish that some day down the road, the cycle will become a part of me, that it will also be about the little differences from one year to the other. i want to grow familiar to my surroundings.

i want to belong. i was never sure - still not entirely - if i could ever, truly feel like i belong here in the middle east, so different from denmark. but maybe i can find a place where i belong, a place where my heart can rest.

Friday, March 19, 2010

i got my second and third film back a few days ago. i wasn't super excited about the result, but some turned out well, so i will be sharing a few more later.

do you process your film photos? i am not sure why, but contrary to my digital photos - where i like to crop, adjust colors, contrast and brightness - i have this feeling that it's "cheating" if i do it to the film photos. film is about authenticity, no? or am i being too orthodox, like newbies sometimes have a tendency to be?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

drift wood creature - work in progress - old wooden box - new floral print pillows - eggs in many different colors and sizes. and then the temperature dropped, the heat wave broke. which actually feels good.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

i had a yoga class this friday morning. when it was done i went home and had sushi for brunch, because D had brought me the best sushi (from miyako in tlv) when he returned home in the wee hours of the morning. he's working late these days. i suspect i will be an (almost) single mom until pesach. important deadlines.

anyway, i had sushi and after that an amazing homemade chai based on this recipe. i used a bit more spices than listed. i don't recommend spicing it up unless you like it sweet like i do.

then i drew a little feather i found on the way home, and i had to decide which of my four japanese masking tapes i wanted to use to place the real feather in my sketch book. you know, important decisions deserves absolute devotion, so i took the necessary time. sometimes it's ok, even good, to just focus on the - seemingly - irrelevant things, right?

i am currently in the middle section of elizabeth gilbert's eat, pray, love. this part is set in an ashram in india. i have been carrying a lot of thoughts around from that book, and since the landscape around me is full of trees dressed in pastel color blossoms, i sensed an eastern theme to this day. not bad at all...

------------------------------

my dad is leaving in a couple of days. i will need to practice some breathing, so i can stay zen-like cool and calm in the coming kind-of-single parent weeks. om and out from here - wishing you a calm and sensible week.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

it's weekend and it's still hot as ... well, really hot. the kids are outdoors most day getting real dirty.

but sometimes even outdoor kids need a break and then you might find them, all dirty and happy, taking a moment on the (kind of) clean couch. when that happens, you can either remove them from said couch and take them straight to the bathtub or you can send them right outside again.

or you can take it as a sign to sit down with a cold beer and just relax.

this time i chose the last option and i think i made the right choice: not much beats a cold beer on a hot afternoon while listening to a happy child singing to himself on the couch.

Friday, March 12, 2010

all my little succulents are so very happy these days. it's been unusually hot these last months, with rain though, so not dry. to be honest, i have no idea if that's what succulents are supposed to like, but apparently, mine do.they are blooming, growing fast and full yellow flowers.

the first and the last photo are of some big succulents in the garden. i found them last spring. someone had pulled them out of the ground, ripping most of their roots, and then thrown them in the street. i brought them home, put them in water for a while and then replanted them. i wasn't sure they would survive, but this spring they have been my little personal pride: lush green, fast growing and now sporting beautiful yellow blossoms. i'm so proud of them :)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

i forgot about jane's corner view today. or i didn't really forget, but i just didn't notice that it was already wednesday. so, no miniature world from me, not now at least. and since we're talking about forgetting days and blog posts: i forgot to make a special thing out of my post number 100. i can live with that. then i forgot to mark post number 200 as well (which i had planned to do, since i forgot the 100th). and then - can you believe it - i completely forgot that my blog had it's first birthday. a week ago. and i forgot! what a neglecting blog owner i am. i must pull myself together, or next thing you know, someone will come and take it away from me.

so, a belated happy birthday, you sweet blog of mine. and to anyone reading it: i am so so happy to have you here. the friendships and kindness i have met in blog world have been so overwhelming and has been such a sweet addition to my life. thank you.

another thing, i saw this beautiful crochet on flickr by the talented ulrika (really, go check her flickr or her blog and get all blown away by her exquisite photos, always amazing colors and beautiful atmosphere). these granny squares with the round center looked so good, so i decided to give it a try. and can you believe it, i managed to make one in my first try, just from looking at the photo. i know, any pro crochet person out there might not find this a big deal, but to me it was like "yay, i totally get this crochet thing!"

now i'm off to bed. i have decided i will dream about a beautiful miniature world, with tiny elfs, mushroom houses and soft, white feathers for beds. sweet dreams.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

i love how children just are out there, leaving it to us, the adults, to fight the worries of thorns on the ground, snakes in the grass, ticks in the trees, too little clothes, too much sun, and on and on. but they don't have concerns, only the moment.

for the past week they have had a blast down by the field where some workers fixing a water pipe left a huge pile of dirt.

it's a slide, a mountain in the jungle, a plain, you name it. their clothes are dirty when the sun sets and we drag them to the shower. and we have had an incident of me getting...upset (to put it mildly) because they disappeared just before we had to leave the house for dinner this friday. and i found them, in the jungle, sliding down the mountain, looking like they really had been living in the jungle for weeks, dirt all over the clean, nice clothes, i had just managed to get them into. deep breath.

but later i smiled, because i really do love how they dig into it, the dirt, the ground, the outdoor life, my bare feet boys.